Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria, Duke of Bavaria, Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine by the Rhine (Rupprecht Maria Luitpold Ferdinand) was the last heir apparent to the Bavarian throne. During the first half of the Great War, he commanded the German Sixth Army on the Western Front. In August 1916, he commanded Army Group Rupprecht of Bavaria, which occupied the sector of the front opposite the British Expeditionary Force.
CHILDHOOD
Rupprecht was born in Munich on May 18, 1869, the eldest of the thirteen children of Ludwig III (the last King of Bavaria) and Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este (a niece of Duke Francis V of Modena). He was a member of the lineage of both Louis XIV of France and William the Conqueror. As a direct descendant of Henrietta of England (daughter of Charles I), Rupprecht was claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland in the Jacobite succession. From the age of seven, he was educated by Freiherr Rolf Kreusser, an Anglo-Bavarian.
In his youth, Rupprecht spent much of his time at Schloß Leutstetten, Starnberg, and at the family’s villa near Lindau, Lake Constance. At the latter, he was able to develop a keen interest in sports. His education was traditional and conservative, but Rupprecht became the first member of the Bavarian royal house to spend time at a public school, the Maximilian-Gymnasium in Munich. Apart from academic studies and his training in riding and dancing, Rupprecht was obliged to learn a trade, and he chose carpentry.
PRE-WAR YEARS
Rupprecht’s paternal grandfather, Luitpold, became de facto ruler of Bavaria when both King Ludwig II and successor Otto were declared insane in 1886. Rupprecht’s own position changed somewhat through these events… as it became more likely that he would eventually succeed to the Bavarian throne.
After graduating from high school, Rupprecht entered the Bavarian Army’s Infanterie-Leibregiment as a second lieutenant. He interrupted his military career to study at the universities of Munich and Berlin from 1889 to 1891. Rupprecht then rose to the rank of colonel and became the commanding officer of the Second Infanterie Regiment Kronprinz. However, he found enough opportunity to travel extensively to the Middle East, India, Japan, and China.
At thirty-one, Rupprecht married his kinswoman Duchess Marie Gabrielle in Bavaria, with whom he had five children. Sadly, she died in 1912 at the age of only thirty-four.
In 1900, Rupprecht became the 1,128th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Austria. Six years later, he was made commander of the Bavarian I Army Corps, with the rank of lieutenant general of the infantry, He became a full general in 1913.
In 1912, Luitpold was succeeded in the position of prince regent by his son Ludwig. On November 5, 1913, Ludwig was crowned king by vote of the Bavarian Senate, thus he became Ludwig III. This decision also made Rupprecht the Crown Prince of Bavaria.
BATTLE OF THE FRONTIERS
The Crown Prince took command of the German Sixth Army in Lorraine on August 2, 1914, one day after Imperial Germany declared war on Tsarist Russia. His appointment came as a result of his royal position, but the level of study Rupprecht had performed before he took command was a factor behind his successful direction of the Sixth Army. Thus, the Crown Prince quickly proved to be a highly-able commander.
While much of the German Army participated in the Schlieffen Plan, the Crown Prince led his troops in the Battle of Lorraine (part of what would later be known as the Battle of the Frontiers), which raged for eleven days (August 14-25, 1914). The fight began with the French First Army (led by General Auguste Dubail) and Second Army (led by General Noel de Castelnau) crossing the border into Lorraine and attacking northeast past Metz in accordance with Plan XVII. Three days earlier, Dubail tried to make a breakthrough in upper Alsace with six divisions. He captured Mulhouse (Muhlhausen to the Germans) on August 8th… and was beaten back the next day.
Crown Prince Rupprecht’s German Sixth Army retired to lure the French deeper into Reich territory. Finally on August 20th, Rupprecht along with the German Seventh Army (led by General Josias von Heeringen) engaged the French Second Army and one flank of the French First Army in battles at Morhange and Sarrebourg. The French forces were soundly beaten by nightfall, losing 20,000 men and 150 guns in the process. But this triumph was overshadowed by the passing of Rupprecht’s oldest son, Luitpold, who died of polio in Munich on August 27th.
The next day, the German Sixth and Seventh Armies were advancing south across the frontier to Epinal. But as these men drove into enemy territory, the French halted their retreat.
After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, the French Army had constructed a fortified line along the frontier. It ran from Belfort near the Swiss border, then northwest through Epinal and Toul before ending at Verdun. Between Epinal and Toul was a forty-mile gap called the Trouée de Charmes. Its purpose was to attract, canalize, and trap any German invaders.
As the German Sixth and Seventh armies passed Epinal and into the Trouée de Charmes, their attack completely broke down. The eastern door on the Western Front slammed shut for good, never to be opened for the remainder of the war! Rupprecht’s aggressive attack failed to break through the French lines.
He was then ordered by Moltke the Younger to occupy only the French forces in Lorraine and stand on the defensive. Nevertheless, Crown Prince Rupprecht remained in command of the German Sixth Army, which was deployed to Belgium after the failure at the Marne in September 1914. His men took part in The Race to the Sea and the crucial First Battle of Ypres later that autumn.
FORTUNE, FAME, AND FALL
During the spring of 1915, Rupprecht sent an answer to General Moritz von Bissing (Governor-General of Belgium) regarding Bavaria’s stand on the “Belgian question”. The Crown Prince envisioned a Belgian economic and military association with Imperial Germany by introducing the Netherlands (enlarged by the Flemish areas of Belgium and northern France) and Luxembourg (enlarged by Belgian Luxembourg) as new federal states. To the Kingdom of Prussia, he suggested other areas of northern France, Walloon Belgium with Liege and Namur, and the salient of the Netherlands round Maastricht. The imperial territories of Alsace-Lorraine and the rest of Lorraine were to be partitioned between Bavaria and Prussia.
Rupprecht aimed to reduce Prussia’s hegemonic role in the Reich by building a sort of an imperial triumvirate of power between Prussia, Bavaria and the Netherlands. When Moltke the Younger ordered Bavarian troops to defend East Prussia from the Russian “steamroller”, the Crown Prince declined. As a result, troops had to be withdrawn from the Belgian sector of the Western Front.
In a letter from June 25, 1915, Max Immelmann, one of the most famous German flying aces, wrote of a visit to an airfield by Crown Prince Rupprecht. It was regarding the inspection of the new Fokker Eindecker aircraft:
“Primarily to see these fighting machines, yesterday the Crown Prince of Bavaria visited the field and inspected us and Abteilung 20. Director Fokker, the constructor of the combat aircraft, was presented to him.”
A little over a year later, Rupprecht became a field marshal (Generalfeldmarschall). On August 28, 1916, he assumed command of Army Group Rupprecht, which consisted of the German First, Second, Sixth, and Seventh Armies. The Crown Prince was considered by some individuals to be one of the best royal commanders in the German Army… possibly even the only one to deserve his command. But in 1917, Rupprecht came to the conclusion (much earlier than most other German generals) that the war could not be won due to the ever-increasing material advantage of the Allies. He also opposed the policy of “scorched earth” during withdrawals, but his royal position made a resignation on those grounds impossible, even though the Crown Prince threatened it. He eventually resigned from command on November 11, 1918… the day of the armistice.
Around the same time, Rupprecht became engaged to the much younger Princess Antonia of Luxembourg. But Germany’s capitulation delayed their marriage, and the engagement was postponed.
On November 12, 1918 (in the wake of civil unrest in the last days of the war), Rupprecht’s father, King Ludwig III of Bavaria, promulgated the Anif declaration… releasing his officials, officers, and soldiers from their oaths. Although he did not formally abdicate (some loyalists would continue to refer to Ludwig as king), the Anif declaration was interpreted by the Bavarian government as an abdication. Thus, Bavaria became a republic, ending 738 years of Wittelsbach rule. As a result, Rupprecht lost the opportunity to succeed the throne.
INTER-WAR YEARS
The Crown Prince escaped to Tyrol in fear of reprisals from the brief soviet-style regime in Bavaria under Kurt Eisner. On February 3, 1919, Maria Theresa of Austria-Este (the last Queen of Bavaria) died… and Rupprecht succeeded his mother as the Jacobite heir. As such, under his anglicized name, the Crown Prince of Bavaria would be known as King Robert I of England and King Robert IV of Scotland. But he never claimed these crowns… and “strongly discouraged” anyone from claiming them on his behalf.
In September 1919, Rupprecht returned to Bavaria. The changed political situation allowed him to finally marry Princess Antonia of Luxembourg on April 7, 1921. The nuncio to Bavaria, Eugenio Pacelli, officiated the ceremony; he would later become Pope Pius XII in March 1939.
Shortly after the 1922 Washington Naval Conference, Rupprecht made a statement regarding the possible ban of aerial bombing, poison gas, sea blockades, and long range guns… blaming them for a majority of civilian casualties during the Great War. He also advocated Germany’s participation in future peace conferences… while dismissing claims that Kaiser Wilhelm II was to blame for the First World War.
Opposed to the Weimar Republic and never having renounced his rights to the throne, Rupprecht envisioned a constitutional monarchy in Bavaria. Upon the death of former King Ludwig III in October 1921, Rupprecht declared his claim to the throne since his father had never formally renounced his crown in the Anif declaration. Although he was not recognized as king, Rupprecht did become the head of the House of Wittelsbach after his father’s death. He formed the Wittelsbacher Ausgleichfond in 1923, an agreement which left the most important of the Wittelsbach palaces (namely Neuschwanstein and Linderhof) to the Bavarian people.
Rupprecht was never enticed to join the Nazis in Germany, despite Hitler’s attempts to win him over through SA leader Ernst Röhm and promises of royal restoration. He helped persuade Gustav von Kahr not to support the Nazi leader during the Beer Hall Putsch.
In private, Hitler held a personal dislike for the Crown Prince. The feeling was mutual! In the summer of 1934, Rupprecht confessed to England’s King George V over lunch in London that he considered Hitler to be insane.
With the worsening of the Great Depression, a plan was floated in 1932 to give Rupprecht dictatorial powers in Bavaria under the title of Staatskommissar. It attracted support from a wide coalition of parties, including the SPD and the post-war Bavarian Minister-President (First Minister) Wilhelm Hoegner. However, the legal appointment of Adolf Hitler as Reichskanzler in January 1933 by President Paul von Hindenburg and the hesitant Bavarian government under Heinrich Held ended such hopes! But the Crown Prince continued to believe that restoration of the monarchy was possible, an opinion he voiced to British ambassador Eric Phipps in 1935.
WORLD WAR II
Rupprecht was forced into exile in Italy in December 1939; the last straw being the confiscation of Schloß Leutstetten by the Nazis. He stayed as a guest of King Victor Emmanuel III, residing mostly in Florence. Although Rupprecht and his family were barred from returning to Germany, the Crown Prince continued to harbor the idea of the restoration of the Bavarian monarchy… in a possible union with Austria as an independent Southern Germany. In a May 1943 memorandum, Rupprecht voiced his opinion that Germany would suffer total defeat. He hoped that the German people would be spared from the worst when the Nazi regime finally fell. In addition, Rupprecht mentioned his ambition for the German crown, which had been held by the House of Wittelsbach in years past.
In October 1944, Rupprecht’s wife and children were captured in Nazi-occupied Hungary… while he was still in Italy evading arrest. They were first imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp at Oranienburg, Brandenburg. In April 1945, they were moved to the Dachau concentration camp near Munich, where they were liberated by the United States Army.
Sadly, Antonia never completely recovered from the captivity, and in 1954, she died iin Switzerland… having vowed never to return to Germany after her ordeal. She was buried in Rome, but her heart was enshrined in the Gnadenkapelle (Chapel of the Miraculous Image) at Altötting in compliance with Wittelsbach tradition.
FINAL YEARS
Rupprecht continued to advocate the restoration of the Bavarian monarchy upon his return to a newly-divided Germany. He found no support from the American occupation authorities who, however, treated the Crown Prince courteously. General Dwight D. Eisenhower provided a special plane to fly him back to Munich in September 1945, and Rupprecht returned to Schloß Leutstetten.
Of the 170 members of the Bavarian parliament, seventy declared themselves to be monarchists in September 1954, a clear sign of support for the Crown Prince!
DEATH
Upon his death on August 2, 1955 at Schloß Leutstetten at the age of eighty-six, Crown Prince Rupprecht was treated like a deceased monarch via a state funeral. His life had spanned the independent Kingdom of Bavaria, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, Allied-occupied Germany, and the establishment of West and East Germany. Rupprecht is buried in the crypt of the Theatinerkirche in Munich near his grandfather Prince Luitpold and great-great-grandfather King Maximilian I… between his first wife Duchess Maria Gabrielle and his eldest son Prince Luitpold.
FAMILY
Rupprecht married twice and had children with both of his wives. His first wife was Duchess Marie Gabriele in Bavaria (9 October 9, 1878 – October 24, 1912), daughter of Duke Karl-Theodor in Bavaria. They were married on July 10, 1900 in Munich and had five children:
1. Luitpold Maximilian Ludwig Karl, Hereditary Prince of Bavaria (May 8, 1901 – August 27, 1914); died of polio.
2. Princess Irmingard Maria Therese José Cäcilia Adelheid Michaela Antonia Adelgunde of Bavaria (September 21, 1902 – April 21, 1903); died of diphtheria.
3. Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria (May 3, 1905 – July 8, 1996).
4. Stillborn daughter (December 6, 1906).
5. Prince Rudolf Friedrich Rupprecht of Bavaria (May 30, 1909 – June 26, 1912); died of diabetes.
His second wife was Princess Antonia of Luxembourg (October 7, 1899 – July 31, 1954), daughter of William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. They were married on April 7, 1921 in Lenggries and had six children:
1. Prince Heinrich Franz Wilhelm of Bavaria (March 28, 1922 – February 14, 1958). Married non-dynastically Anne Marie de Lustrac (1927–1999). No issue.
Heinrich was killed in an auto accident in Argentina. His wife Anne was killed in a similar accident in Milan forty years later.
2. Princess Irmingard Marie Josefa of Bavaria (May 29, 1923 – October 23, 2010). Married her first cousin Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (1913–2008) and had issue.
3. Princess Editha Marie Gabriele Anna of Bavaria (September 16, 1924 – May 4, 2013). Married first Tito Tommaso Maria Brunetti (1905–1954) and second Prof. Gustav Christian Schimert (1910–1990). Had issue by both.
4. Princess Hilda Hildegard Marie Gabriele of Bavaria (March 24, 1926 – May 5, 2002). Married Juan Bradstock Edgar Lockett de Loayza (1912–1987) and had issue.
5. Princess Gabriele Adelgunde Marie Theresia Antonia of Bavaria (May 10, 1927 – April 19, 2019). Married Carl, Duke of Croÿ (1914–2011), and had issue.
6. Princess Sophie Marie Therese of Bavaria (born June 20, 1935). Married Prince Jean-Engelbert, 12th Duke of Arenberg (1921–2011), and has issue.
TITLES, STYLES, AND HONORS
His full style was “His Royal Highness Rupprecht Maria Luitpold Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Bavaria, Duke of Bavaria, of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine”.
HONORS
GERMAN EMPIRE
Bavaria:
– Knight of St. Hubert
– Grand Prior of the Upper Palatinate of the Royal Bavarian House Equestrian Order of St. George, 1889
– Grand Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph, August 23, 1914
– Grand Cross of the Military Merit Order, with Swords
Anhalt:
– Grand Cross of Albert the Bear, with Swords
– Friedrich Cross
Baden:
– Knight of the House Order of Fidelity, 1887
– Knight of the Order of Berthold the First, 1887
– Grand Cross of the Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order
Brunswick:
– Grand Cross of Henry the Lion
– War Merit Cross, Second Class
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg Saxe-Meiningen Ernestine duchies:
– Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order, with Swords
– Cross for Merit in War (Meiningen)
Free Hanseatic Cities:
– Hanseatic Crosses
Hesse and by Rhine:
– Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order
– General Honor Decoration
Prussia:
– Knight of the Black Eagle
– Iron Cross, First and Second Classes, 1914
– Pour le Mérite (military), August 22, 1915; with Oak Leaves, December 20, 1916
Hohenzollern:
– Cross of Honor of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern, First Class
Lippe-Detmold:
– War Honor Cross for Heroic Deeds
– War Merit Cross
– House Order of the Honor Cross, First Class with Swords
Mecklenburg:
– Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore
– Military Merit Cross, 1st Class (Strelitz)
Oldenburg:
– Grand Cross of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig, with Golden Crown
Saxony:
– Knight of the Rue Crown
– Knight of the Military Order of St. Henry, August 1914; Commander 2nd Class, June 1915; Commander 1st Class, January 1917; Grand Cross, May 1918
Württemberg:
– Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown
– Grand Cross of the Military Merit Order
FOREIGN HONORS
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Family:
– Grand Cross of St. Stephen, 1893
– Knight of the Golden Fleece, 1900
– Military Merit Cross, First Class with War Decoration
– Military Merit Medal (Signum Laudis)
BELGIUM
-Grand Cordon of the Royal Order of Leopold, 1897
KINGDOM OF ITALY
Italian Royal Family:
– Grand Cross of the Crown of Italy, ca. 1914
– Knight of the Annunciation, 1948
– Grand Cross of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, 1948
EMPIRE OF JAPAN
– Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, May 16, 1905
LUXEMBOURG
– Knight of the Gold Lion of Nassau
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
– Order of Osmanieh, First Class in Diamonds
– Turkish War Medal (“Gallipoli Star”)
– Gold Imtiaz Medal with Swords
QING DYNASTY (CHINA)
– Order of the Double Dragon, Grade I Class II
KINGDOM OF ROMANIA
– Grand Cross of the Star of Romania
SPAIN
– Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III, with Collar, November 8, 1908
SWEDEN
– Knight of the Seraphim, September 18, 1897
TUSCANY
Tuscan Grand Ducal Family:
– Grand Cross of St. Joseph
KINGDOM OF THE TWO SICILIES
Two Sicilian Royal Family:
– Grand Cross of St. Ferdinand and Merit
UNITED KINGDOM
– Honorary Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
MILITARY RANKS
Sekondleutnant: August 8, 1886
Leutnant: November 1, 1891
Rittmeister: May 17, 1893
Major: June 4, 1896
Oberst: October 28, 1899
Generalmajor: October 7, 1900
Generalleutnant: November 11, 1903
General der Infanterie: April 19, 1906
Generaloberst: February 4, 1913
Generalfeldmarschall: July 25, 1916